In the past, sterile surgical needles generally have had a bright or shiny chromium or silver type of surface. It was thought this shiny surface, which was a result of polishing for the most part, was required in order to obtain desired sharpness and cutting characteristics or penetration characteristics with the needle. A drawback to these shiny surfaces is the difficulty they present in being observed by the surgeon during a surgical procedure. Cardiovascular surgeons and micro-surgeons have found it quite difficult to use needles which reflect light in surgery because of the reduced visibility of such needles. With the advent of micro-surgery there is a similar problem in lack of visibility within the surgical site of these highly reflective needles.
Methods of blackening the reflective surfaces of metal materials have been known for sometime and have been attempted with surgical needles. To the best of my knowledge, no one has been able to develop a suitably dark, non-reflective needle as these blackening processes suffer from one or more disadvantages. Often these blackening processes form a coating on the needle which may flake off during use. In some instances the processes form a non-uniform non-reflective surface which causes visibility problems as well as interfering with the sharpness characteristics of the needle. In most of these blackening processes the needle becomes dull as a result of the blackening treatment.
What I have discovered is a new method for blackening surgical needles and a new method for producing sterile surgical needles having a dark and non-reflective surface. The surface of my new needles does not flake and my new needles have excellent sharpness and penetration characteristics. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and drawings.